Georgy Konstantovich Zhukov (1 December 1896-18 June 1974) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense from 9 February 1955 to 26 October 1957, succeeding Nikolai Bulganin and preceding Rodion Malinovsky.
Biography[]
Born into poverty, Georgy Zhukov was conscripted into the Russian imperial army in World War I. He fought for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War and made a successful career as a Soviet officer, avoiding death or dismissal in Stalin's purges. In 1938, he commanded Soviet troops fighting a border war against the Japanese in Mongolia. In 1939, at Khalkhin Gol, he crushed the Japanese forces with aggressive use of tanks and motorized infantry. The prestige gained in this war earned Zhukov the position of chief of the general staff in January 1941. He did not welcome the job, seeing himself as a field commander rather than a staff officer. He openly disagreed with Stalin's response to the German invasion and his insistence on "no retreat". Zhukov was dismissed in July 1941, but remained one of the inner circle running the war. In September, he was sent to hold Leningrad (St. Petersburg), which looked close to falling to the enemy. In fact, the Germans did not try to take the city, but Zhukov appeared to have saved it. The next month, Stalin asked him to repeat the miracle at Moscow. German forces advancing on the capital were first halted and then, in December, driven back with a well-handled counteroffensive.
Saving Stalingrad[]
In October 1942, Stalin made Zhukov deputy supreme commander and outlived him to save Stalingrad. Operation Uranus, the offensive that cut off the German army in the city, was methodically lanned and rapidly and ruthlessly executed, showing Zhukov's skills at their best. In 1943, he asterminded the great Soviet victory at Kursk. Operation Bagration, the massive Byelorussian offensive of the summer of 1944, showed how Zhukov and other Soviet generals had by now mastered combining all arms to smash through enemy defenses, maintaining momentum across difficult terrain and crushing resistance, whatever the cost in lives and material. Zhukov supervised the capture of Berlin in spring 1945 and ended the war as the most celebrated of Soviet commanders. Soon demoted by a jealous Stalin, he returned for a time as defense minister in the 1950s.
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